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Nour is only 14. But already she has endured more horror and grief than most people can imagine.

She is originally from Jobar in the Syrian capital Damascus. Two of her siblings were injured in a rocket attack on their way to school �鶹APP� her sister survived her shrapnel wounds but her brother was killed.

More agony followed. Her family was caught up in a chemical attack and her father died.

Two years ago Nour and her family fled from Syria to neighbouring Lebanon. Until recently, she had been out of school for three years.

Now �鶹APP� thanks to support from the charity �鶹APP� she is back in a classroom and learning. Along with 200,000 other Syrian refugee children in Lebanon, she is getting an education and a chance to rebuild her life through an innovative double-shift school system.

Sarah Brown visits students at Mtein school at Mount Lebanon Picture: Anthony Achkar

�鶹APP�I am happy because I am in school again,�鶹APP� said Nour. �鶹APP�Before I went to school I did not have friends �鶹APP� now I am not as shy.

�鶹APP�I was able to remember what I learned in Syria. I started using my mind again �鶹APP� when I was out of school I was unable to concentrate.�鶹APP�

Nour was among tens of thousands of children who returned to school in October. �鶹APP �鶹APP� the parent charity of A World at School �鶹APP� has been developing projects to help children back into education.

That work has been supported by the People�鶹APP�s Postcode Lottery and A World at School�鶹APP�s #UpForSchool campaign �鶹APP� which demands that world leaders provide education for every child �鶹APP� has been backed by more than 10 million supporters.

Nour said: �鶹APP��鶹APP helped me a lot. Thanks to them, I was able to go back to school, unlike my siblings who are at home and have nothing to do other than play outside.

Nour returned to school after three years out of education

�鶹APP�Education gives me hope because I will become stronger. If I continue my education I will have the best future.�鶹APP�

The four-year Syrian conflict has left more than three million children locked out of education, with little hope of returning to school.

Lebanon is host to 1.2 million Syrian refugees and a third of them are out-of-school children.

�鶹APP President Sarah Brown went to Lebanon to see the work the charity is doing, including:

• Supporting children back into education through the double-shift system
• Helping children in school through pilot projects providing milk and nutritious snacks so that children can concentrate and learn
• Introducing better technology to the classrooms and training teachers to use it

Mayas takes part in a lesson at Ketermaya Public School

Sarah visited some of the children who have returned to school for the first time in years.

She said: �鶹APP�Hearing the stories of children who have been left out of school, you�鶹APP�re reminded just how hard a lesson they�鶹APP�ve had to learn being out of school �鶹APP� and how much they cherish the opportunity to be back there learning.�鶹APP�

�鶹APP has been addressing the barriers to accessing the education and quality of learning, as well as helping to improve learning outcomes for vulnerable children.

Its programmes are simple, practical and effective. They have been proved to work �鶹APP� and with the backing of #UpForSchool supporters, we are creating a new generation of educated young people who can rebuild their homes, their communities and their country.

Children like Ahmad, who wants to become an engineer so that he can help to rebuild Syria after the conflict ends.

Students at Mtien school use a tablet provided by �鶹APP as part of the Technology in Classrooms project

He and his sister Mayas also returned to school in October after being out of education for three years �鶹APP� two years at their former home in Jobar, Damascus, and one in Lebanon.

During that year, Ahmad, 14, worked at a petrol station and then a dollar store, hoping that one day he could go back to school. Mayas, who is 12, was at home helping her mother with cooking and cleaning.

Ahmad said: �鶹APP�Now that I am going to school I feel very happy. I feel like my dreams will come true.

�鶹APP�I feel like a normal child again �鶹APP� not a child who goes to work. School is everything to us. Now I have hope.�鶹APP�

Mayas, who wants to become a doctor, said: �鶹APP�I was very sad and kept wishing I could go back to school.�鶹APP�

Girl with a carton of free milk as part of �鶹APP�鶹APP�s feeding programme

That finally happened when places became available at Ketermaya Public School through the double-shift system.

Mayas added: �鶹APP�On my first day at school I was very happy. But I felt a little sad when I remembered that there are still other children out of school.�鶹APP�

�鶹APP now needs more people to:

• Sign the to support all children starved of an education due to emergencies around the world.
• such as those in Lebanon and other programmes designed by �鶹APP to support all the world�鶹APP�s most vulnerable children.

As Sarah Brown said, �鶹APP�We have the opportunity now to create more school places for Syrian refugee children and transform their lives.�鶹APP�